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January 2011 Challenge - Escape the Estate

I hope it's not too late top jump into this month's comp and I hope this idea counts. With my other mapping attempts on near permanent standstill I thought I'd give this comp a try. This idea came from reading those old picture puzzle/adventure books back in school, you know the ones where you had to guide your protagonists through a maze and things like that. Since the guidelines said any scale so long as it had obstacles and a path leading from Point A to B I thought I'd try and create one of those mazes myself. First some brief back story. Our young "hero" and his friend were visiting the estate of a local cranky miser, the hero wanted to see his girlfriend, a serving girl for the miser, and the friend wanted to get into the wine cellar. That night unfortunately the estate workers started a riot, being tired of their low wages and bullying boss and furious at finding out that the miser was going to emply his son, Manfriedo the Wizard, to create a workforce of golems to replace the estate workers. Now the hero and his girlfriend must get back to his friend down by the lake and escape the estate in a rowboat. To get there they must navigate through the dark maze of hedgerows and walls while dodging the rioters and angry golems. I also wanted to include the "points of light" but with a catch, in this maze you would want to avoid the lights as they either denote the locations of the rioters or a place where the golems can find you.

The style for this map was inspired by Larb's Gensokyo map. Please note that the below sketch is VERY rought, I quickly scribbled it out on paper during a lull at work. I plan to add a hell of a lot more details, as well as a more paths and many more baddies. I don't expect to be doing much over the next few days so I should have a much better sketch up maybe by tommorow. I know the sketch of the hero and his girlfriend are terrible zoomed in but when you look at it on a a4 page I thought it looked kind of cute, but that's just me.

-D-

### Latest WIP ###

Attached Thumbnails

Last edited by LonewandererD; 01-27-2011 at 06:36 AM.

People come and people go. I walk amongst them, I see their faces; but none see mine. I pass them in the streets but nary a glance is spared my way, for what interest would they have in a Wanderer? Not of this world... Forever Alone... Forever Wandering... LoneWandererD...

Okay, here's a much cleaner and simpler sketch/plan. I've started adding in details, should have more in a day or two. Also, yes I know that the hill in the foreground is entirely wrong in comparision to the angle and height of the view of the estate grounds beyond, I'm bending the rules of perception a bit for "artistic purposes"
(or as close as i can get to artistic).

-D-

### Latest WIP ###

Attached Thumbnails

Last edited by LonewandererD; 01-27-2011 at 06:37 AM.

People come and people go. I walk amongst them, I see their faces; but none see mine. I pass them in the streets but nary a glance is spared my way, for what interest would they have in a Wanderer? Not of this world... Forever Alone... Forever Wandering... LoneWandererD...

Okay, sorry for the late update, choosing to jump into a comp while on holidays may not have been the best option (note to self, sunburns hurt! ). Anyway, work alot on details, have about half of it done, should have more tommorow. I will then move onto painting it, I'm going to do a normal daytime colour scheme and then use some tuts I have found to convert it into night, will add in the meanies and our protagonists after I've colour the background. Should have more soon... hopefully...

-D-

### Latest WIP ###

Attached Thumbnails

Last edited by LonewandererD; 01-27-2011 at 06:37 AM.

People come and people go. I walk amongst them, I see their faces; but none see mine. I pass them in the streets but nary a glance is spared my way, for what interest would they have in a Wanderer? Not of this world... Forever Alone... Forever Wandering... LoneWandererD...

People come and people go. I walk amongst them, I see their faces; but none see mine. I pass them in the streets but nary a glance is spared my way, for what interest would they have in a Wanderer? Not of this world... Forever Alone... Forever Wandering... LoneWandererD...

Got most of the greens coloured in as well as all of the foreground. In the final product it will not be any where near as green, mostly shades of blue and grey as it will be a night scene, I'm just colouring it in as a day scene before making the transition. More to come tommorow, hopefully.

-D-

### Latest WIP ###

Attached Thumbnails

Last edited by LonewandererD; 01-27-2011 at 06:37 AM.

People come and people go. I walk amongst them, I see their faces; but none see mine. I pass them in the streets but nary a glance is spared my way, for what interest would they have in a Wanderer? Not of this world... Forever Alone... Forever Wandering... LoneWandererD...